 Over the years, high buildups of toxic salts in the soil had caused declining productivity of food grains, especially rice and wheat, in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state and one of its poorest. Sodification, especially in poorly-managed irrigated areas, left an estimated 1.25 million hectares of land completely barren. In 1993, the state, its farmers and communities, and the World Bank joined together to address these problems and create long-term solutions.
A key part of the project was assuring land ownership for the farmers. Staff worked with thousands of formerly landless farmers to divide the land into parcels and negotiate titles. On their own lands, farmers provided most of the arduous labor. They followed these phases of the reclamation process: testing the soil, digging surface drainage, building tube-wells, applying the gypsum and water for leaching, flushing with good-quality groundwater, planting crops, and regularly continuing to flush salts from the link drains.
Within six months, farmers experienced improved agricultural productivity and enjoyed higher incomes. Yields of rice and wheat doubled original project estimates, wage rates doubled, and land values quadrupled. Farmers planted income-generating high-value crops, animal husbandry improved, and fewer farmers abandoned the fields to seek work in nearby cities. More than 85,000 farm families have benefited from the reclamation of 47,000 hectares. In late 1998, the Bank announced a $194 million credit to continue the effort on another 150,000 hectares of sodic lands. So far, that project has recovered 30,000 hectares. The program model is so successful that the government of Uttar Pradesh plans to follow it in all future sodic land reclamation.
Project staff also helped establish women's savings and credit groups to supplement family incomes. Banks then began to offer the groups credit for dairy farming, sewing, tree nurseries, and trading. Loan repayments have been prompt; arrears are negligible. Some groups have lent their savings to other farmers so they could meet some of the crop production costs.
Updated: July 2002
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